Chapter 28 - 4#

His Majesty didn’t even glance at Shi Lijun. As he passed a guard with a sword, he casually drew the man’s blade.

Shi Lijun’s eyelids twitched; she quickly realized something.

But faster than her realization was Emperor Jingyuan’s blade.

A palace servant, who had been dutifully serving outside the hall, struggled to look down and saw the sharp blade piercing through his chest and abdomen. That blood…

It was his.

Before a scream could even escape, Emperor Jingyuan pulled out the blade, and the body fell stiffly to the ground.

But this was not the end.

The emperor’s blade poked and prodded at the corpse’s waist and abdomen, churning it into a muddy mess. Finally, from the flesh and blood, he picked out a slender white worm.

Shi Lijun’s face changed drastically.

Emperor Jingyuan casually flicked the white worm to the ground and crushed the wriggling creature as he stepped over the corpse.

Shi Lijun looked at the palace maid behind her. Although the maid’s face was pale, she understood Shi Lijun’s meaning and immediately went to investigate.

This thing should not have appeared in Qianming Palace!

Strangely, when Emperor Jingyuan killed, a deeply oppressive silence permeated the entire front of the hall.

Even though it was a blood-soaked Majesty walking towards them, no one dared to flee. They all stood frozen in place… or knelt.

They were terrified.

That fear had penetrated their very bones, leaving them with no will to resist.

A kneeling eunuch was dragged up. His face was ashen. Before he could struggle, the tip of the blade had already pierced his heart.

“He… ah…”

Blood splattered onto Emperor Jingyuan, flowing warmly down his body.

The eunuch’s throat began to squirm. Something was expanding wildly, trying to break out of the host’s body before death.

But the emperor did not give it the chance.

A moment later, he pushed the corpse with the broken throat to the ground and tossed aside the long sword in his hand.

It seemed that everyone within his sight had been dealt with.

Once a person was possessed by a Gu worm and it entered the heart meridian, they couldn’t be saved even if discovered.

Whether they died sooner or later, they had to die.

Emperor Jingyuan ascended the steps, leaving behind sticky, bloody footprints.

“The bodies, burn them all.”

“Yes.”

Just as Shi Lijun responded, she heard another commotion in front of the hall.

She subconsciously looked up and saw a eunuch, who had been guarding the inner hall, trembling all over. “Your Majesty…”

Emperor Jingyuan stopped in front of him.

The eunuch knew what this meant.

Just now, the emperor had mercilessly killed those two people, yet they hadn’t dared to resist. Now, was it his turn?

The monthly stipend in Qianming Palace had always been much, much higher than elsewhere. This was naturally because the rate of replacement was sometimes unimaginably fast.

“Your Majesty, spare me! Your Majesty, spare me! This servant doesn’t want to die…”

The eunuch wept bitterly and was about to kneel.

But before his knees could bend, a weapon flashed in his hand, and he stabbed towards Emperor Jingyuan. The expression on his face was still one of mourning, but his movements were already ruthless, as if he had been waiting for this strike for an unknown amount of time.

“Eh?”

The eunuch made a strange sound. Before his hand could pierce flesh, his wrist holding the dagger was seized by a large hand.

The force was so great that even with the momentum of his lunge, he couldn’t break through the block.

He watched helplessly as that hand bent his own dagger back towards him. The sound of bones cracking under unbearable pressure was heard—

Crack.

His wrist was snapped. The excruciating pain made him howl, and with a broken bone, he naturally couldn’t hold the poisoned dagger, which fell into Emperor Jingyuan’s hands.

Using that small dagger, he dismembered the eunuch alive. The eunuch remained alive until Emperor Jingyuan picked the Gu worm from his body, alive the whole time…

Heh, after all, before the Gu worm leaves the body, it will do everything it can to maintain the host’s vitality.

Shi Lijun couldn’t help but feel a chill in her heart as she recalled the miserable state of the last person.

After burning the three bodies to ashes, she also received the results of her investigation.

Emperor Jingyuan said calmly, “Didn’t I already have you distribute the incense? How are there still omissions?”

His voice was soft as he continued to wipe his hands.

Wet, sticky blood flowed, like a never-ending waterfall, making the entire Qianming Palace exceptionally bloody and terrifying.

In her mind, Shi Lijun was already beating Ning Hongru violently.

This matter was originally handled by Ning Hongru.

After all, he was also in charge of that batch of agarwood. Shi Lijun cursed the damn Ning Hongru in her heart; he was nowhere to be found when it mattered most, and she was the one who had to step up.

Shi Lijun had already figured out the whole story.

Incense was always burning in Qianming Palace.

The servants coming and going would all be tinged with its scent. This incense was also strange; once you were scented, the faint fragrance would linger for a long time.

However, the incense burner was only in the side hall.

The main hall, especially the place where Emperor Jingyuan rested, had no scent at all.

Emperor Jingyuan did not like superfluous fragrances.

Everyone knew of His Majesty’s temperament, yet the incense burners were always lit in the side halls and other areas.

This put the servants attending in front of the hall in a difficult position.

After all, the emperor disliked the fragrance, but the side halls were constantly filled with it. What was the logic in that?

But the order had come from His Majesty himself, so they could only follow it reluctantly.

The last time Ning Hongru had to seek an audience with Emperor Jingyuan late at night, he had to carefully clean the scent from his body before daring to enter the hall.

After all, a woken emperor was a hundred times more irritable than when he was awake.

Those three were all servants who attended outside the hall and rarely entered the main hall of Qianming. Logically, they should have been exposed to the incense long enough in areas outside the main hall and shouldn’t have been attacked.

Even if the last one was a pawn they had deliberately left, as long as there was no problem with the incense, Qianming Palace should have been safe.

“Thirteen days ago, there was a shower of rain and sleet,” Shi Lijun said respectfully. “The Noble Consort came in the rain. These few people happened to be serving outside the hall and welcomed her in the rain. The lingering scent on their bodies was washed away by the rain and snow.”

Although Emperor Jingyuan was wiping the bloodstains with a handkerchief, his face, his body, his clothes… the sticky blood was actually flowing from his own body.

“Go and prepare a bath.”

Emperor Jingyuan’s gaze finally fell on Shi Lijun. The bone-chilling coldness was so oppressive that one couldn’t raise their head. His sharp, knife-like gaze scraped at one’s bones, making them ache.

“Then, bring Zong Yuanxin here.”

Shi Lijun was stunned at first, then a look of joy appeared on her face, completely destroying her usual cold and stern demeanor.

“Your Majesty, you are willing, you are willing…” She didn’t finish her sentence, but bit her lip tightly.

Emperor Jingyuan had an illness.

This was a secret known only to Ning Hongru and Shi Lijun.

In the past, there were no conditions to treat it, but after Emperor Jingyuan ascended the throne, the emperor himself didn’t seem to care, never allowing an imperial physician to set foot in Qianming Palace.

This was not a good sign.

But Ning Hongru and Shi Lijun were helpless.

The emperor’s temper was unpredictable. Sometimes, Shi Lijun even felt a faint sense of dread.

Emperor Jingyuan was a king holding a scepter, a monster in the imperial city, and a silently decaying stone statue on the throne.

There were many things the emperor simply didn’t care about.

The incense he had people make was never burned in the main hall; he clearly knew the Noble Consort’s intentions, yet he watched her actions with great interest.

This Majesty didn’t care about his own life at all; he was simply toying with it… who knew when His Majesty the Emperor would play himself to death.

Since a person doesn’t even care about their own life, how could they possibly care about worldly etiquette and laws.

It was such a madman who, one day, was actually willing to see Zong Yuanxin!

Shi Lijun was overjoyed and immediately gave the orders. She also urged the palace staff to quickly clean up the blood, lest the things contaminated by the Gu worms also carry some unclean poison.

Inside the hall, Emperor Jingyuan finally cleaned the blood from his skin, but his clothes were still filled with the pungent smell of blood.

He seemed a little tired, looking down at the handkerchief that fell lightly.

Sometimes he was very patient.

Sometimes, Helian Rong had no patience at all.

Boiling a frog in warm water was naturally a good method. Cook the prey little by little, let it get used to the environment, and then it can no longer escape, only able to stay obediently in its cage.

But this method was not effective on Jingzhe.

Jingzhe was a sharp and vigilant little beast.

His body always sensed danger before his mind did, reacting instinctively.

What he could do, and what he couldn’t.

His reason was clearly and distinctly drawn.

His relationship with “Rong Jiu” was the craziest thing he had ever done.

Constant dripping wears away a stone; waiting for the flowers to bloom was, of course, feasible.

But Helian Rong’s patience was limited.

A pure accident.

From a mystery, to a pitiable bird, to a pathetic puppy, and finally… to Jingzhe.

He had truly entered Helian Rong’s eyes, and in turn, aroused his desire.

Sexual desire… the will to live…

No matter which one, it was extremely greedy.

A clamorous desire flowed under the skin, and in the blood that sustained life, there was a restless frenzy that could not be stopped.

Emperor Jingyuan walked through the palace corridors, shed his heavy, blood-soaked clothes, and as he sank into the bath, he was playing with two pure black ink jades in his hand.

The crisp sound of them clinking was pleasant, but not like him.

No matter how much these hard ink jades resembled those two black grape seeds, they were ultimately inanimate objects, not as moist and lovely as the original two eyes.

The two precious ink jades in his palm were crushed to powder at some point, scattering with the flow of water.

Imitations were ultimately useless.

The flowing water washed away the red of the blood until it was clear again. Helian Rong emerged from the pool naked. There was a very obvious scar on his chest, which was covered again by layers of clothing as he moved.

Emperor Jingyuan smiled at the human-skinned monster in the bronze mirror.

He was a little… tired of holding back.

Author’s note:

Rong Jiu: I want to eat.